N.D.Tiwari is my son’s father, Ujjwala Sharma tells court

New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Governor N.D. Tiwari faces more trouble as Ujjwala Sharma, mother of Rohit Shekhar who has said he is the veteran politician’s natural son, Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that he was born out of her relationship with the former Congress leader. Sharma told the court in a written statement that Tiwari drew her into an extra-marital relationship.

“Believing the repeated requests and being convinced of the love and affection shown by Tiwari hailing from a respectable and prestigious family, I submitted to emotional pressure and that culminated in the birth of Rohit Shekhar,” Ujjwala Sharma, a former Congress party activist, said in her submission.

Tiwari, 85, has been in the thick of controversy following Shekhar’s suit seeking declaration from the court that he is the biological son of the former Congress leader.

Tiwari has been a central minister as well as chief minister in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Sharma filed her response after Tiwari refuted all Shekhar’s claims and contended before the court that the petition was scandalous and filed only to defame him.

Referring to her association with Tiwari, Sharma submitted that their relationship developed as Tiwari used to visit her when she was living with her father.

“Tiwari was a frequent visitor to the house of my father who was a member of parliament and we used to meet frequently as he was the president of the All India Youth Congress and I was general secretary of the All India Young Women Congress,” Sharma said in her submission.

“Though there was a considerable difference in the age, Tiwari kept trying to win my confidence and establish a close relationship when I was having a marital dispute with my husband,” Sharma said.

“Every time we used to meet, he used to insist that he is issue-less and since his wife could not have a child on account of some physical problem, we should have child of our own. And he impressed upon me that he would complete the formalities of marriage after their divorces,” she said.

Sharma, legally separated from her husband, alleged in her plea that Tiwari started losing interest in Rohit after becoming an MP and started threatening her.

After the death of his wife in 1993, Tiwari had once again assured her that he would acknowledge Rohit publicly as his son by way of adoption but “when reminded in 1995 he refused to talk to me”, Sharma said.

A single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court Nov 25 directed the governor to appear before it Dec 16 for in-chamber hearing as it was a family matter. He was later exempted from personal appearance.